PHOTO: Rodney Sieh, FPA Managing Editor
By Our Staff Writer
In the wake of an arrest writ from the Criminal Court “C” at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia for alleged contempt of court, the management of Liberia’s FrontpageAfrica newspaper is calling for the intervention of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, Francis Korkpor.
In a letter to their readers published on the news outlet’s website this evening, the FPA said there was no deliberate attempt on their part to refuse to accept an earlier writ of summons from the court.
Criminal Court “C” presided over by assigned Circuit Court Judge, OUSMAN F. Feika has ordered the arrest of the Management of one of Liberia’s local dailies, Front Page Africa for “their failure and refusal” to sign for and receive the writ of summons, according to the Sheriff returns.
FrontpageAfrica’s management was earlier summoned in connection with a series of recent reports carried on the corruption case involving former Liberian Defense Minister and now Senator-elect of Lofa County, Brownie J. Samukai, whose certification is yet to be done due to ongoing legal hurdles.
The Clerk of Court was ordered to issue a Criminal Contempt of Court on the management of the Front Page Africa along with a writ of Arrest and place same in the hand of the sheriff of this Court to have the paper’s management arrested and have them appear before the Court upon effecting said arrest.
But the FPA management said it had no intention of rejected the court’s summons but since the COVID-19 spike, its Editors and Reporters have been working from home and not their Airfield office in Monrovia’s Sinkor suburb. Therefore, when the Court Sheriff arrived with the writ, it was only the security there.
“Our security officers say that the Sheriff made an attempt to serve the writ at 11am for the management to appear at 12:30pm, making it nearly impossible for anyone in authority to appear on time thus breaking the law as all of our staff were on assignment,” the paper says.
But the FPA says while they have no intention of breaking the law, “we have done nothing wrong for any judge to order our arrest. We will be happy to appear once we are served in reasonable time to honor the court’s request.”
However, Liberia’s leading investigative newspaper has warned against any attempt to muzzle the press and is calling for the intervention of the head of the Supreme Court of Liberia.
“In this light, we are pleading with Chief Justice Korkpor to ensure that the judicial branch use its power for those who need it the most, and not to muzzle, intimidate or instill fears in members of the Fourth Estate,” the FPA August 30, 2021 letter concludes.